How can a 16bit ppRGB image file be any better/safer/smaller than the raw??

It's all about the work flow. I used to have a small gallery and shot almost daily. I have a huge library of photos. As I said ALL of the edited files are 16bit ppRGB. The optimized for print are .psd or tiff or both archived here and there.

IF and when printers are available to take advantage of higher bit rates my work will be ready to go with less effort.

My goal is to one day make a portfolio of full sized images and learn higher quality printing with a higher quality printer.

I guess what I'm trying to say is there may come a day when you will sorely disappointed because you're 8 bit prints in a limited color space are not as good as your colleagues. I may be wrong but doing it my way I don't have to consider this possibility.

Can someone suggest a problem with my approach besides I fill up hard drives faster? The effort is equal to 8bit sRGB.....